Normalcy
by TheEmberGirl
Summary: Spending long amounts of time with another person tends to cause one to fall into patterns around them. This was something that struck England about his relationship with Prussia. Pure domestic fluff. Rated for K mild swearing.


**This was written around a year ago for my friend** _ **Invisible Unicorn**_ **based on a tumblr post** **. This is the last of the completed fics I've already written, the last fic I'll post on that's just on here, and perhaps the last fic I post at all. I might keep writing and cross post to a03, but that looks unlikely at the moment because I don't have the time or the effort to write things at no one else appreciates.**

 **So thank you to everyone who has read, favourited and reviewed my writing, it was fun while it lasted. Thanks to everyone who's reading this fic, you'll make me feel a little better about myself as I obsessively check my stats in the next few days.**

 **And without further ado:**

* * *

 **Normalcy**

Spending long amounts of time with another person tends to cause one to fall into patterns around them. This was something that struck England about his relationship with Prussia.

It was a typical night – 1am, entangled around each other in England's bed, but England knew they would not be sleeping for a while. For the recesses of Prussia's mind was a strange place, even more so at odd hours.

'Have you ever thought?' he began in all seriousness. 'What if bugs scream when they die, but because they're so small, we can't hear them?'

England stifled a groan.

'Go to sleep,' he mumbled groggily into pillow, knowing full well it was hopeless.

Beside him Prussia shifted, restless.

'But what if they do?' he pressed.

'Do you have to be so morbid? I want to sleep.'

There was a silence long enough for England to hope the other had fallen asleep. As usual it didn't last.

'Do you think there's a lawyer somewhere in Asia called Sue Yu?'

England snorted, then grumbled something about sleeping. Prussia took that as a cue to continue:

'I mean, wouldn't that be funny? A notoriously tough—'

'Just shut up,' England complained, elbowing Prussia in the ribs among chortles.

'You know, people who work from home technically live at work,'

'How on earth do you come up with these things?'

By now England had given up on his attempt to stop laughing.

'I don't know, suppose it's just how awesome I am,'

Even in the dark Prussia could tell England has rolled his eyes. He grinned.

'If deodorants are supposed to remove odours, would there be no smell if you sprayed two at the same time?'

'Yes, because you'd knock yourself out on the fumes,' England paused in his laughter to answer sarcastically.

Prussia blinked, then snorted, breaking into soft laughter. England joined in moments later.

'I was beginning to think you had no sense of humour,'

'Shut up,'

They broke into fresh peals of laughter, eventually drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Morning came and England woke to weak sunshine and the sound of the TV blaring from his living room. He shuffled down the stair, still in his pyjamas to find Prussia – also in pyjamas – holding a half eaten bowl of Fruit Loops on the couch, engrossed in cartoon reruns.

'How long have you been awake?'

It was 8am already.

Prussia shrugged.

'Two hours, maybe?' he stuck another spoonful of soggy cereal into his mouth.

'You should sleep more,' England admonished before entering the kitchen.

Prussia had left the box of Fruit Loops on the table, England briefly considered putting it away and making himself some toast before deciding to pour himself a bowl. He made his way to the couch after adding milk. Prussia removed his attention from the screen to smile at him.

'Morning,'

England kissed him as he sat down, careful not the spill the cereal.

'Morning. What are you watching?' he asked as he made himself comfortable.

Prussia gestured at the TV with his spoon, unable to reply with his mouth full. England leaned into Prussia and settled for watching whatever it was for the next hour or so.

* * *

The cartoon reruns gave way to infomercials and England moved to getting some work done on the kitchen table. Prussia sat across from him, also on his laptop, with his headphones in. Judging by his intense expression, England figured he was either gaming or having an online argument with his brother.

'Hey,' Prussia called out a while, sliding his headphones onto his neck and unplugging them from his laptop. 'Listen.'

He hit the spacebar and a familiar tune began to play. England smiled and hummed along to the lyrics.

'I used to think that was an awful song, you know?' he mentioned as the song ended.

Prussia looked mildly affronted. He had always liked the song.

'That was until I caught you dancing to it and somehow you convinced me to join in,' England clarified.

Prussia grinned at the memory, and England grinned back.

* * *

It was 11am and replying to emails from ministers had become rather dull. Having decided to go out for lunch, they went to change out of their pyjamas.

'I think we've got the wrong clothes,' Prussia said pointedly as he failed to zipper the too-tight black jeans which actually belonged to England. 'That's definitely my shirt you're wearing.'

England looked down at the baggy t-shirt with the name of an obscure German band that he was wearing then smirked at Prussia.

'Get another shirt; I'm keeping this on,'

'And you say _I'm_ the childish one.'

England only proved the point when he threw Prussia's jeans at his head.

* * *

'Hey, smile!' Prussia teased as he pressed the camera button on his phone.

England glared at him.

'Will you stop that?' he grouched as Prussia flicked through all the selfies he'd taken of them that day – from the ones taken by the park, to the ones on the Tube.

'Nope,' Prussia smiled annoyingly. 'I've got to keep all these memories and maybe post some onto my blog.'

England was sure Prussia knew he didn't actually have anything against it, but they were both happy to keep up the pretences.

* * *

Prussia stared at England as the waiter left.

'Maybe I should have ordered,' he commented.

'It's your fault for wanting something with a French name,' England's tone was blasé.

Prussia laughed fondly.

'I knew you did it on purpose, but do you really have to spite France even when he's not around?'

Somehow he already knew the answer he was about to receive.

'Naturally,' England replied stiffly.

Prussia laughed again and the rest of lunch passed without an incident.

* * *

Lunch, then a movie – an ideal date for most couples. The cinema was crowded and filled with the smell of buttery popcorn. England and Prussia bought tickets to the latest highly anticipated blockbuster and a large container of popcorn, both knowingly that at least a quarter of its contents would probably be found under their collars later that day.

Five minutes into the movie and Prussia could not resist the urge to commentate any longer.

'Are those supposed to be teenagers?' he whispered at England. 'No amount of makeup is going to hide the fact that guy can grow a full beard.'

England was tempted to ignore him, but the movie was no good by any standards.

'I'm not sure what whoever wrote the lines were thinking. Who actually talks like that?' he whispered back.

They both sniggered.

'Man, those special effects were so bad,'

'Completely unnecessary too, no wonder they blew their budget,' England agreed.

'He did not just do that!' Prussia hissed as a character made a particularly bad decision.

England snorted and abandoned his attempt to throw the uncooked kernels he'd found into Prussia's hoodie.

'How did he not see- Never mind, he saw it.' He said incredulously after watching the next scene.

Prussia was already staring back at the screen in fascinated horror, clearly about to make a scathing comment.

Neither of them realised how loud they'd gotten until they were asked to remove themselves from the cinema. As their eyes adjusted to the light outside, they laughed and decided it was worth it.

* * *

'Oh shit!' England exclaimed as he pulled the tray with its burning contents out of the oven. 'Bloody bollocks!'

Prussia emerged from the living room, waving a hand in front of his face as he smelt the burning food.

'You alright?' he quipped as England let loose another stream of cussing.

'No I'm not!' England snapped, dumping the tray into the sink. 'It was cooking perfectly – until I forgot to set a timer and got distracted by the crossword!'

Prussia crossed the kitchen to embrace the frustrated nation.

'It's alright,' he breathed.

'Don't you dare mention the incident with the scones,' England huffed.

Prussia only laughed. Moments later England moved to wrap his arms around him.

They ended up ordering Chinese takeaway. England threw a prawn at Prussia each time he mentioned the disaster still smouldering in the kitchen sink.

* * *

England tugged on the blankets as they slid off him for the third time that night.

'Would you stop that?' he asked through gritted teeth.

'Stop what?' Prussia's tone was innocent.

'Stop hogging the blankets!'

England gave the blankets a particularly vicious tug.

'Now my feet are cold,' Prussia whined, tugging the blankets back towards himself.

'You're the one who started this,'

'Well you're the one hogging the blankets now,'

'Prussia, stop that!' England growled as the blankets were yanked off him again.

'No,' Prussia taunted.

'How are your feet so cold? Stop touching me with them!'

'Make me!'

Prussia hit the carpet with a thump, England having kicked him hard while pulling the blanket over his own head, forming a cocoon with it.

Prussia pulled himself off the floor.

'Truce?' He called through the dark.

'I already won,' the reply was muffled by the blanket.

'But it's cold out here,' Prussia complained.

In the next seconds of silence he thought England was ignoring him. Then there was the sound of sheets rustling.

'Get back in here and sleep then,' England grumbled.

Prussia climbed back in under the warmth of the blankets, wrapping his arms around England's waist.

'You're warm,' he said to him.

'Just go to sleep,'

Prussia could hear the smile in his words and smiled as well.

* * *

They didn't speak for a week after starting a stupid argument right before Prussia returned to Berlin.

'That was stupid,' England sighed when they met again.

'I still think an eagle is a better national animal,' Prussia was as stubborn as ever.

'A lion is stronger,' England began. 'Don't you start on the lions aren't native thing—'

He paused at Prussia's thoughtful expression.

'What?'

'Maybe we're both right – an eagle represents me better, but you're the lion,' his tone and slight smile signified his wish to end the argument.

England stared at him.

'That,' he shook his head. 'Was one profound way to put it.'

He brushed Prussia's hair out of his eyes.

'You need a haircut,' he murmured.

'Do not!'

'Do too,'

One tended to falls into patterns with another person they spend large amounts of time with. And as Prussia leaned down to kiss him, England came to the conclusion he didn't mind that at all.

* * *

 **And so we've reached the end. I hoped you liked this one, I remember having a lot of fun writing this.**

 **Prussia's random thoughts are based off posts from just-shower-thoughts, and the song and movie are up to interpretation.**

 **Goodbye, maybe forever.**

 **~Ember**


End file.
